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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, has declared that she worked tirelessly to ensure the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, won the presidential election in Kwara State, despite her disagreements with the actions of the APC-led state government in the state.
Saraki stated this while debunking a story shared by a newsblog, ‘Ilorin Info,’ which has gone viral on social media. The medium reported that the minister has joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) unofficially in Kwara State.
But in a statement signed by her media consultant, Moses Bello, Saraki denied joining PDP and supporting its Kwara State governorship candidate, Yahman Abdullahi.
“The minister worked tirelessly to ensure Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) torchbearer won the presidential elections in Kwara State despite a few disagreements with the actions of the APC led state government in aggressively deconstructing the late Oloye Sola Saraki’s legacies,” the statement said.
Saraki said she remains an APC chieftain, both in Kwara State and in the country, adding that she has no intention of leaving the ruling party.
“If anything, I am even more committed to ensuring the success of the incoming Asiwaju/Shettima administration come May 29.
“Numerous groups in and outside Kwara State lauded the minister for putting aside the unflattering attempt by the AbdulRazaq administration in decimating the Saraki family when it demolished parts of Ile Arugbo, the ancestral home of the late patriarch of the Saraki dynasty and pursuing the eventual victory of the APC against her brother, Sen Bukola Saraki’s Peoples Democratic Party in the general elections.
“Senator Saraki has had a chequered political career and remains one of the powerful forces in Kwara State politics as a grassroots mobiliser and has pledged her continued allegiance to President Buhari’s administration as well as that of incoming Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Sen Kashim Shettima,” the statement added.